In 2000 the KITS project started. KITS is an acronym for Knowledge management Interactive Training System. The project was based on changing views in the field of learning and instruction in the form of constructivism, situationism, and collaborative learning. Respectively, these new views on learning imply that learners are encouraged to construct their own knowledge instead of copying it from an authority, be it a book or a teacher, in realistic situations instead of decontextualised, formal situations such as propagated in traditional textbooks and together with others instead of on their own. The overall objective of the KITS project was to develop and evaluate a learning environment that comprises an educationally supported, distributed simulation in the domain of knowledge management. This environment is constructivistic since learners are in charge and have to solve all kinds of problems; it is situated because the situations presented in the simulation are realistic and placed in the practical context of the participants, and it is collaborative since the players work together on the same tasks.
The environment combines a business simulation with game elements. The actions learners can take in the learning environment are different from the ones which usually can be taken in simulations. In pure simulations learners change the value of one or more well-defined variables to discover the effects of this change on other well-defined variables. However, this approach will not work for a knowledge management simulation. The actions to be taken by the learners in such a simulation will be “global” actions, e.g. “Implement a job rotation and enrichment system” or
“Organise regular researchers visits to professional conferences” that have a direct or delayed effect on certain knowledge processes which indirectly have an influence on business process indicators. The task of the learner is not to discover all the underlying rules of the simulation model. This is far too complicated. Furthermore, the simulation model is context specific; the effectiveness of certain knowledge management actions is dependent on the context in which they are taken.
Knowledge management actions will be different in a large product leadership organization than in a small customer intimacy type of organization.
Some game features are introduced to make the simulation more valid and comparable to real life situations in which a knowledge manager will be working. In simulations chance and surprise do not play an important role while they do in real situations. For instance, in real life the government comes with new legislation, competitors launch new products etc. Implementation of such elements makes the simulation more game like. Another feature that is not found in pure simulations is limited resources. In real life knowledge managers will not be able to take every action that they want. They have to work with limited resources or have to face other kinds of limitations.
The knowledge management simulation game is based on a case based learning situation in which teams of players had to react upon unexpected events related to a company description given to the learners (De Hoog, Van Heijst, Van der Spek, Edwards, Mallis, Van der Meij, and Taylor, 1999). In this initial situation no feedback mechanism was incorporated in the learning context, and no instructional support was given to the learners.
Is it all in the game?
In the KITS project the initial case description was transformed into a collaborative and constructive Internet based learning environment by enriching it with several tools and components that will be briefly described below.
To support the players in solving knowledge management problems, several elements were implemented that should enhance the learning process (see Section 4.6). A main element is the introduction of a knowledge management model that describes a systematic approach to solving knowledge management problems (a form of modelling and of scaffolding by structuring, see the end of Section 4.2.2).
This approach is based on a prescriptive view of how knowledge management should be done and is based on the KM consultancy experiences of one of the project partners: Cibit Consultants/Educators. Although the model is prescriptive, this does not mean that the use of the model leads to the “right” solutions. It is not an algorithmic model but a process model that that consists of four distinct phases (focus, organize, implement and monitor), which are subdivided into smaller steps.
These steps indicate the activities and actions a knowledge manager should complete in order to come up with the best fitting knowledge management solution for problems in an organization. Although the model consists of a limited set of steps, there are choice points, each leading to different pathways in the model. These pathways are based on different types of knowledge management problems that one can encounter.
A business model is implemented to simulate the behaviour of a large set of business and knowledge (process) indicators of the company, and to enable new situations to arise as a consequence of decisions taken by the learners. In principle, the business model should be seen as a learning relevant representation of an organization and its environment, and not as a necessarily valid representation of an actual organization. The business model consists of a set of variables representing the crucial features of an organization that are relevant for learning knowledge management. The set of variables is divided into four layers, of which two reflect general business concerns, and two others are focused on knowledge domains and knowledge processes. These last two generally are not incorporated in general business simulations.
• Organizational effectiveness variables reflect the competitive characteristics of the company like market share, profit, level of sales and so on.
• Business process related variables reflect the quality of internal processes and “how well” work is done in the company. Examples are “production quality index” and “average time it takes to bring a new product to the market”.
• Knowledge related variables reflect the level of competence in the relevant knowledge domains (marketing, research & development, and production)
• Knowledge process related variables reflect the properties of processes involving knowledge in relevant domains, like speed of knowledge gaining, effectiveness of knowledge transfer.
It was decided to use an internet-based environment for several reasons. The main one being that the primary target group of the simulation game consists of managers given responsibility for implementing knowledge management in their companies.
These managers, in most cases, have a very tight schedule and do not have many colleagues with the same task in their own company. By using an Internet based environment the opportunity of remote participation is offered. This means that players can collaborate with people outside their company without having to be available at the same place and time. The only thing player’s need is an Internet connection and a web browser.
To support collaboration and communication at a distance, tools are implemented like a chat box, monitoring facilities, a voting tool, shared worksheets, and embedded
A simulation game to learn knowledge management
forums. These tools support synchronous as well as asynchronous communication between team members.
4.4.1 Learning goals and target group
The simulation game is made for senior managers who are keen to learn more about knowledge management because they think it might solve existing and/or future problems for their organization, or other managers given responsibility for implementing knowledge management in their companies. A second target group consists of students at universities and business schools that want to know more about knowledge management.
The learning goals can be subdivided into goals (first four named below) that have to do with the procedure to follow when performing knowledge management (KM strategic knowledge) and knowledge that is used in the procedure (KM conceptual knowledge). After having completed all phases in the learning scenario (see Section 4.5), learners:
• Are able to specify which phases can be distinguished in solving knowledge management (KM) problems;
• Can perform the steps in the different phases (focus, organize, implement and monitor) in the knowledge management model;
• Are able to assess the KM situation and advise/implement appropriate interventions;
• Are able to monitor and evaluate the consequences of interventions.
• Are able to identify the main knowledge processes (gaining, development, retention, transfer and use),
• Are able to give a description of these processes,
• Are able to describe the basic characteristics of these processes
• Are able to identify (types of) interventions that have an influence on certain knowledge processes.
4.4.2 Brief description of the core of the simulation game
The combination of a task relevant business simulation model and game elements characterizes the learning environment as a simulation game. The simulation game is situated in the context of a fictitious (large) product leadership organization
“Coltec”, a manufacturer of adhesives, coatings etcetera. The starting point is a (case) description of that company. In this case a description of static information about Coltec is given. This contains information about its mission, the history of the company, products they make, the market they operate in, and the structure of the organization.
When entering the simulation game the players obtain a description of their role in the Coltec Company: “The board of directors of the company has recognized that knowledge is a key asset. To develop a better understanding of the role of knowledge in the organization, and the ways it should be managed, a special knowledge management task force has been put together. Your team is this special task force. Your task is to initiate specific activities that improve the efficacy of the knowledge household of the company. You are expected to propose both pro-active and re-active actions.”
The simulation game can be played by three players who all have the same role of knowledge manager and who collaboratively have the task to improve the efficacy of the company’s knowledge household. This is not an aim in itself as it is related to objectives for the (management of the) company in general. The general goal of the simulation game is to optimize the level of a set of general organizational effectiveness variables: market share, profit, and the customer satisfaction index.
Is it all in the game?
These variables are at the top level of the business model (that is used to simulate the behaviour of the company). Next to the general goal players can also set their own objectives during game play by specifying desired values for certain business or knowledge (process) indicators. Players play their role for three consecutive years in the life span of the company.
Basically, in the game, players can inspect the status of business process indicators and knowledge process indicators (in three general domains), ask for additional information, and choose knowledge management interventions to (try to) change the behaviour of the business simulation. Most of the indicators are characterized by a decay factor. This means that the value of the indicators decreases over time when no interventions are implemented. The interventions can be chosen from predefined pool of 57 interventions. At some moments in time certain interventions will not be effective (because they can only be implemented a limited number of times). This depends on the past actions of the players.
Changes in the status of the business indicators will only be computed at the end of each quarter. There is no time limit to playing the simulation game. Teams set their own pace. When players think they know enough to solve the problem, they indicate that they agree with the proposed interventions (by using a voting tool). After they have reached agreement, the simulation game proceeds to the end of the quarter and the business simulation will calculate new values for all of the indicators. The game ends after the players have indicated that they have implemented the last intervention(s) in the fourth quarter of the third year in the life span of the company.
To trigger activities from the players and to make sure that players are confronted with different types of knowledge management problems, at the beginning of each quarter an (unexpected) event is introduced that could affect the knowledge household of the company. Players have to decide if and how they want to react on these events. Events are generated from a pool of 50 events. Different types of events can be distinguished based on two dimensions: the locus of the event (internal or external), and the effect of the event (direct, delayed, or no effect). Effects either can be positive or negative.
Which event is selected can depend on several conditions: the events presented in the previous quarters, the interventions taken by the players, and/or the value of certain business indicators. When the triggering conditions of more than one event are met, one event from this set will be randomly generated.
Players can interact with the environment and with each other by using tools and resources that are presented in an Internet environment, based on a “virtual office metaphor” (see Figure 4-1). Clicking on a specific element in the “office” will open a window with additional resources or tools. For instance, clicking on the newspaper will display the description of the event that has occurred and gives access to feedback on the previous event. The simplified organization chart at the right hand side of the whiteboard gives access to static information about Coltec (mission, history, products, market, and organizational structure). The icons next to the chart give access to a visualisation system, which can display the (current and old) values of a set of 65 indicators in the business model (using different types of visualisations). The books on the lowest two bookshelves give access to additional information about knowledge management, the indicators in the business model and the interventions, which can be implemented. The books on the top two shelves contain “historic” data about the player’s actions and game states in the 12 quarters of the game. Clicking on the phone gives access to a chat facility. The computer gives access to process worksheets related to the steps in the four phases of the knowledge management model.
A simulation game to learn knowledge management
Figure 4-1. Virtual office interface of KM Quest.
The implementation of interventions involves costs as well do several other activities that the players can perform. Players receive a limited budget that they can use to implement interventions and buy information. Other constraints to the actions of the players are: It is not possible to reorganize the structure of Coltec, or to inspect indicators at the level of specific departments, products or persons. Nor is it possible to implement interventions at these levels.
These constraints are introduced for practical reasons. Reorganizing the company would mean that the relations between variables in the business model would have to be changed, which is very difficult. Furthermore, the static information about the company would be “outdated”. The business model comprises about 200 variables (of which 65 are visible for the players). Adding additional variables at the levels of specific departments, products, or persons, would make the model even more complex than it already is. In the current version it is only possible to inspect the status of general business indicators and knowledge process indicators in three global domains: research & development, marketing & sales, and production.